PCLM-D-23-00275

Coming in from the cold: addressing the challenges experienced by women conducting remote polar fieldwork

PLOS Climate

Dear Dr. Gevers,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS Climate. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS Climate’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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After a careful reviewing of your manuscript, a final decision was reached: MINOR REVISION.

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Please submit your revised manuscript by 10 February, 2024. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at climate@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pclm/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Noureddine Benkeblia, Dr. Sci., Dr. Agr.

Academic Editor

PLOS Climate

Journal Requirements:

1. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

2. Please note that PLOS CLIMATE has specific guidelines on code sharing for submissions in which author-generated code underpins the findings in the manuscript. In these cases, all author-generated code must be made available without restrictions upon publication of the work. Please review our guidelines at https://journals.plos.org/climate/s/materials-and-software-sharing#loc-sharing-code and ensure that your code is shared in a way that follows best practice and facilitates reproducibility and reuse.

3. We notice that your supplementary figures are uploaded with the file type 'Figure'. Please amend the file type to 'Supporting Information'. Please ensure that each Supporting Information file has a legend listed in the manuscript after the references list.

Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

The manuscript was reviewed and a final decision was reached: Minor Revision. All the comments of the reviewers should be addressed and the revision indicated on a separate letter.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Does this manuscript meet PLOS Climate’s publication criteria? Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? The manuscript must describe methodologically and ethically rigorous research with conclusions that are appropriately drawn based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available (please refer to the Data Availability Statement at the start of the manuscript PDF file)?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS Climate does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The topic of the manuscript is very interesting. However, the repeated use of arguments and unnecessary expansion of narratives has led to diluting the rigor of the manuscript. The same could have been presented in a better and curt manner. The author(s) may like to revise the content and put arguments precisely to support the findings. Repetition maybe avoided. How are lived experiences of respondents in this particular context different from any other job/work role? EDI is mentioned but the same is not taken care of while drawing the sample. This may kindly be looked into. Data representation is appreciated.

Reviewer #2: 1. This manuscript presents a vital study on women's experiences in polar region fieldwork meeting the rigorous standards of PLOS Climate. It combines thorough, ethical research with clear, supportive data, highlighting the unique challenges faced by women in these environments. The paper stands out for its focus on a relatively unexplored topic, offering insights crucial for promoting gender equity in scientific fieldwork. This work is not only scientifically robust but also essential for fostering institutional changes, making it significant for a broad audience interested in gender dynamics and equity in challenging work settings.

2. Yes

3. Yes- I believe all data aside from those that impact participant privacy was shared in the supplementary data section.

4. Yes

Suggestions: For the discussion section- You mention that many of the survey participants stated that women on field sites were more likely to 'keep the team well fed', have a cleaning role etc. Perhaps in the section 'Improve pre-fieldwork preparation and communication' you could add this point as a bullet (something along the lines of 'chores and team wellbeing' and the importance of all team members contributing equally).

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Sonal Mobar Roy

Reviewer #2: No

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Coming in from the cold: addressing the challenges experienced by women conducting remote polar fieldwork

PCLM-D-23-00275R1

Dear Dr. Gevers,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript 'Coming in from the cold: addressing the challenges experienced by women conducting remote polar fieldwork' has been provisionally accepted for publication in PLOS Climate.

Before your manuscript can be formally accepted you will need to complete some formatting changes, which you will receive in a follow-up email from a member of our team. 

Please note that your manuscript will not be scheduled for publication until you have made the required changes, so a swift response is appreciated.

IMPORTANT: The editorial review process is now complete. PLOS will only permit corrections to spelling, formatting or significant scientific errors from this point onwards. Requests for major changes, or any which affect the scientific understanding of your work, will cause delays to the publication date of your manuscript.

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Thank you again for supporting Open Access publishing; we are looking forward to publishing your work in PLOS Climate.

Best regards,

Noureddine Benkeblia, Dr. Sci., Dr. Agr.

Academic Editor

PLOS Climate

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After careful reading your revised manuscript, the revisions that have been made to the manuscript are considered satisfactory and effective in addressing the remaining concerns of the reviewers. Therefore a final decision was reached. We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript is accepted for publication in PLOS Climate.

Reviewer Comments (if any, and for reference):